Ira Dyer

Ira Dyer: Innovator, entrepreneur and visionary for ocean engineering

(June 14, 1925- October 9, 2016)

Dr. Ira Dyer (91) of Marblehead, Massachusetts – an educator, scholar, leader, sailor, opera buff and beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle – died peacefully at his home on October 9, 2016. A physicist, Ira’s distinguished career in acoustics spanned over six decades. His seminal research had profound impact in the fields of aeroacoustics, structural acoustics, and underwater acoustics. He was a valued educator and mentor for many students who are now prominent scientists. Ira served as Department Head of Ocean Engineering at MIT for 10 years, president of the Acoustical Society of America and on numerous committees, blue ribbon panels, and advisory boards for many government agencies and research companies.

Ira was the son of Frieda and Charles Dyer, who were forced to flee the Pale of Settlement in Russia, and arrived in the United States with a young daughter and almost nothing else. Ira was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1925 and as a child lived in every borough of New York City but Staten Island. He thrived as a student at Brooklyn Tech where his scientific interests were nurtured. Ira served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Following the war he studied at Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) under the GI bill and received his Ph.D. in physics in 1954. In 1949 Ira married his sweetheart, Betty Schanberg of Clinton, Massachusetts. They were happily married for 68 years.

They have two married children, Samuel Dyer (Barbara) and Debora Dyer Mayer (John), and three grandchildren – Ethan Dyer and Charley and Owen Mayer.

Sailing was among his great pleasures, and always the educator, he would mentor one and all as they took the helm of his several yachts, all named Coriolis. He inspired many, including his grandsons Ethan and Owen, to pursue careers in science.

After his graduate studies, Ira joined Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (BBN). He was the seventh employee hired at BBN by Leo Beranek (recently deceased see Boston Globe Oct. 13) who would later say that Ira was one of the three most important people responsible for the success of the company. In one of his first projects (1951), Ira designed, built, and tested an ultrasonic brain scanner. This system was intended to use active sonar to find brain tumors and Ira himself was the first person to undergo an ultrasonic brain scan. The system ended up only measuring bone thickness but it paved the way for the ultrasonic scanners currently used in medicine (in cardiology and during pregnancy). He later led others in an applied research division that investigated all aspects of sound and vibration in complex structures such as ships, submarines, aircraft, and spacecraft, and resulted in many publications in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). During the mid 1950s, Ira helped design the US Navy X-1 Submarine, a small four-man diesel-electric-submarine, with a very quiet radiated noise mission and advocated by Admiral Rickover. He designed an innovative engine mounting system (triple-stage isolation mounts) that significantly quieted the vehicle, allowing the submarine to pass the sound requirements. The isolation concepts led the way for the US Navy to develop ultra-quiet submarines in the future, providing significant advantages for US submarine operations during the Cold War. Presently, the X-1 submarine is on display at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, CT.

In 1960, the Acoustical Society honored Ira’s early work with the Biennial Award, a recognition to scientists under 35 for their outstanding contributions to acoustics.

In 1971 Ira accepted the positions of Head of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the Director of the Sea Grant Program at MIT. He soon led the Department into new areas in ocean engineering, which emphasized learning about the ocean environment. Later he was named the Weber-Shaughness Professor of Ocean Engineering. His expertise and graduate course in ocean acoustics were legendary. He was a consummate professor, both as a lecturer and one-on-one, with a clarity that inspired his students. Under Ira's leadership, the Sea Grant Program, created to stimulate research and wise use of the oceans, became a model program, and was widely emulated. Ira also nurtured other new subjects in ocean acoustics, especially in conjunction with the MIT—Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program. For many years Ira played a major role in advising, researching and designing anti-submarine warfare systems for the Navy, keeping our nation safe during the Cold War.

Ira made many seminal contributions to acoustics that were published in JASA. His article on the scintillation of ocean ambient noise is still one of the most cited today, as are his significant contributions to structural acoustics, reverberation and propagation of sound in the sea. The programs he established in these technical areas were international in scope, leading and focusing global expertise. Beginning in 1978 Ira led and participated in six Arctic field programs. The first, Canadian Basin Arctic Reverberation Experiment, imaged the entire Arctic basin with acoustics, providing evidence of a seamount range, now tentatively named the G. Leonard Johnson Seamount after a legendary ONR sponsor. He and his students developed a taxonomy of ice noise events that has been fundamental for understanding Arctic noise. In the 1990’s Ira resumed his research on structural acoustics that influenced contemporary submarine designs. Also, Ira contributed to one high level Navy technical advisory committee that has led to the contemporary submarine sonar signal processing suite.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Betty and Ira, working with Action of Soviet Jewry helped place Soviet refugees in appropriate jobs and sponsored a newly arrived family. They became a classic American-immigrant success story. This philanthropy extended to include medical research, the arts, community causes, MIT and Clark University in Worcester, MA.

As an independent research consultant during the past 20 years, Ira served on the board of directors and provided expertise to local ocean acoustic consulting firms founded by some of his former students. He was instrumental in helping solve a pump vibration problem at the Deer Island Sewer Treatment facility by identifying an organ pipe-like resonance in one of the inlet pipes that coupled into and accentuated the pump vibration levels. This problem impacted the construction completion schedule, and the solution allowed the project, a major construction project to eliminate Boston Harbor pollution, to move forward and the pump to operate safely.

Ira was a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Visiting Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, UK. He was the recipient of many awards and honors in his long and distinguished career. In 1996 he was awarded the Per Bruel Gold Medal by the Acoustical Society of America, its highest honor. Ira’s joy was in challenging conventional thinking and being challenged by colleagues and students. If one of his students would say “The data doesn’t agree with the theory.” Ira would wag his finger and say, “No, no… the theory does not agree with the data!” Meetings with Ira are still recalled with gusto. He challenged all to continuously learn and acquire knowledge. He took great pleasure in family and friends. He will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in the memory of Ira Dyer to:

PRISMS, Inc. (Parents and Researchers Interested in Smith-Magenis Syndrome) SMS is a genetic disorder that Ira’s oldest grandson was born with. www.PRISMS.org

Care Dimensions, the North Shore hospice that was wonderful and loving to the Dyer family. www.caredimensions.org

Charles and Frieda Dyer Memorial Fund (3413500) A tuition scholarship at MIT, established by Ira and Betty in honor of Ira's parents. https://giving.mit.edu/ira-dyer